Previously, we've discussed a friend and his nostalgia for the Saturn brand. Now, he's shopping for an EV; with Saturn long gone, what brand and model will he choose.
This has been a multi-year journey and it's not over yet. It's fair to say that the process is not going well. I sat down with him for an interview to share that story here, with you.
Solar Is Free EV 'Fuel'
CarsWithCords (CWC):
I understand that you're interested in buying an EV. Why?
Saturn Fan EV Shopper (SFES):
I have a big huge solar array on top of my house and I
might as well have free "gas" because of it and I think we all need to be more responsible in terms of our carbon usage. It's becoming alarmingly clear
if you've watched the weather at all, that Mother Nature is telling us that we
have done bad.
Additionally, one of my side hobbies is carbon capture technologies. I like to play with algae and I've worked with state senators and
state representatives trying to get legislation about carbon capture and carbon
capture technology. So I really feel like I need to walk the walk here and an electric car is
critical to getting less carbon into our atmosphere and I didn't realize when I
started on that journey, how just weird and hard it was going to be.
I knew the pandemic was gonna throw curveballs, but there were some decisions from automakers that just made me scratch my head. It really made me doubt my own sanity at times, which is not
something that I thought was gonna happen, you know, while buying a car.
EVs Are Going Mainstream
CWC
What was the process you used to decide which EV was right for you?
SFES
So the good news is more and more EV options from the long-term brands.
I had been a long-time Saturn owner and that company folded, horrifically folded, as GM started to implode at one point. That left me at a point where I literally couldn't get my car repaired.
Rivian, Tesla, and some of the other start-ups are immediately off of the table because I didn't want to have to relive that tragedy. Also, I wanted a car, not a political statement, so that knocked out what I would call "vanity" brands.
I wanted a car from an established brand. I wanted a car from the likes of Ford, VW, or Honda; these companies are older than I am and the probability of them surviving is much higher than a vanity brand or start-up; where,
yeah, sure the CEO is completely invested now until he buys a new shiny thing and wants to
call it X or something and I'm just making that part up.
CWC
That could never happen.
SFES
It may end up causing a massive distraction for the brand, for the support
of the brand. So I just wanted to have, for lack of a better word, a mainstream provider. And so when I was EV shopping, I went to the Portland Auto Show. This was in February of 2021.
I Want A Car, Not A Starship
SFES
I tried out every EV they had there and, for me, they fell into two general categories.
Category One: they are trying to be Star Trek, where it was super
high-tech and digital everything. And, you know, just weird glass cockpits that didn't make any sense or they
were just very thinly reskinned and cludgy.
This is funny/ironic because I'm a huge Star Trek nerd. So that's how I like sci-fi, but that's not how I like my cars.
The second category was what I'd call normal cars. The Ford Mustang Mach-E was in this second category. Yes, it had the big screen, but it still had buttons and knobs in a familiar layout.
The VW ID.4 was also in the second category.
There were a lot of cars, like some from Subaru and Nissan, that were there at the show but they were locked. What's on the inside? "You're gonna have to trust us."
I'm there to car shop. The car is there and I can't even sit in it. That didn't endear these brands to me.
Dieselgate Is The Past, EVs Are The Future
I
tried out the Volkswagen ID.4. I know some of your readers shaking their fists at me, "Volkswagen! They're the diesel-gate B*#%@#$."
Yeah, they're the diesel-gate B*#%@#$, but this is an EV. Yes, they cheated on diesel emissions. I felt like they had learned their lesson and an electric car is not a
diesel. I didn't want to punish the EV for the sins of the diesel. But I
went in very cognizant of sometimes, you know, we take imperfect choices
because there are no perfect ones.
This was 2021, during the pandemic, and the car show was really
weird. You had to have proof of vaccination. You had to wear a mask. They let in a very limited number of people at a time, so it was a pretty low-key show. One of
the events was a "test ride." Sadly, they didn't let you behind the wheel, you were just a passenger and one of the sales droids drove you around a portion of the conference
floor.
Even though I didn't get to drive, I thought that was really cool. I mean, you're actually on the event floor and they're actually driving it around. I was like, yeah, we can do that.
CWC
Right, that's pretty cool. Driving around indoors. You can't do that in a gas car.
SFES
EVs, yeah, no tailpipe, no tailpipe emissions.
Sitting in it, the ID.4 felt good. It was the size that I wanted my knees don't work as well as they used to, so I need something that has a little higher sit-point. It had a giant glass sunroof that I really liked. Even with the giant sunroof, they didn't change the location of the roof line, which I thought was
really nice. It felt really well put together. That was
attractive to me, getting in and out was easy, and it had the range I wanted.
We inherited a Nissan LEAF when my mother-in-law passed away. I drove the LEAF for a little while. It was used when she bought it so we were the third owners and the range was so degraded by the time that it came to us, it was unusable for our needs.
Based on that LEAF experience, I wanted something that had north of 200 miles of range and the the battery
pack that was offered with the ID.4 at that time was like 240-260 or something
like that. This would be plenty of range for our needs, even in winter with the heater on max or in the summer with the AC on high.
So I was really happy with the ID.4. It had the right feel, features, and range; so I went home expecting an ID.4 to soon be gracing my garage.
I talked it over with my wife. She agreed. Looking at the options online, they even had the color that I wanted. I've always loved blue cars and they offered it in blue. It came with a white weird kind of fake material trim, but I was like, OK, let's do this.
You had to
pre-order it effectively to get a reservation. So I went to their website, filled out all the paperwork, designed my car in their configurator, and submitted it, including, you know, putting down some ducats. That got me into the queue. This was all in February 2021.
CWC
Sounds good so far. You found a car that you like and you've got the process going. I'm interested when the questioning of your sanity part comes into play.
SFES
Oh, it's coming.
The Frayed Ends of Sanity
SFES
When reserving the car, you had to pick a dealer that you wanted to work with. One of my current cars is a Mazda from a local dealership and
they've treated me pretty well. They have a Volkswagen arm of their same dealership. They've been good enough to earn my business.
So I called them up to find out where to from here. They said they had completely misjudged the market acceptance of the ID.4 and there were 400 people waiting in the queue for an ID.4 at this one dealership alone.
CWC
400, wow!
SFES
He said, "I hope you've got patience." I was like, you know, I've got perfectly working cars
right now, so I'm willing to be patient.
So he said, I'll get you an update in October. I was like, OK, you know, it's February and I'll get an update (not a car) in October.
October comes and my estimated delivery date is set to February 2022. One year after my order was placed. This was when the supply chain in 2021 really started drying up. There was apparently an automotive silicon factory that also had caught fire or had other disasters. There was automotive grade silicon worldwide constraint. That's not going to help. The dealership tells me that all the dealerships now have to compete for the limited stock so February is an estimate.
OK, I can be patient. I'll be patient. Just keep going. Keep going.
EV Racing With My Dad
SFES
In late 2021, my dad started looking for his next car. He was thinking he should go green as well. Looking into the EVs that are available, he found the Mercedes EQE.
After reading all the specs and a test drive, he says, "Yeah, I'll take one of those." So in January of 2022, he gets on the reservation list. Now, he and I are having a race. Who will get their EV first? And I'm like, "Dude, I'm totally gonna take you down. I've already got 10 months in the queue."
His response was a simple, "We'll see. We'll see."
My trash-talkin' are words I'd be eating later.
The Waiting Game
SFES
And so I keep waiting and waiting.
Then I got a call from the dealership. I thought maybe the car was here. It wasn't. They're like, you know, this car is popular and in short supply because of the chip shortage. So the
Feb 2022 estimate date became a March date and the March date became an October date. October came and went with no car. I would call periodically to let them know I was still waiting and interested. My estimated delivery was August of 2023.
The Ship Sank!
SFES
The dealership called me in July of 2023 to let me know that they had a large allocation, including some that matched my configuration, on a ship that was coming and my August 2023 delivery date looks good. Yes! It could finally happen.
Before July concluded, my hopes were scuddled. The car cargo transport carrying thousands of cars, including one that might've been mine, caught fire and sank in the North Sea. The ship had several month's worth of ID.4 production in it. This made the worldwide shortage of ID.4s radically worse.
The Blue Blues
SFES
In August of this year, my patience was wearing thin so I called up the dealership, "Bro, what's going on here, man? We seem to be perpetually delayed? What's the new estimate?"
He said that they were reordering their allocation for the sunk cars and there was a problem. He said, "Well, the interior that you wanted, the interior fabric supplier
is no longer supplying that color."
And I'm like, "OK, so put a different color fabric in it." The interior of the car was not a big factor for me. It wasn't some great thing; the materials, the color, it was kind of just good enough.
They said, "Well,
that's not how it works. Volkswagen is discontinuing the blue exterior color because it was paired with this interior color that's no longer available."
That makes no sense to me. Get it from another supplier, put in a black interior, a white interior, or a tan interior. Any of these would work with a blue exterior. And I'm now you can see where the last strands of my sanity starting to evaporate.
They tell me I can have it in silver or gray, or any of the
dullest possible imaginable colors. I just wanted blue. If I'm spending all this money on a new car, I should be able to get it in the color I like. I wasn't asking for some rare sapphire-encrusted exterior. I just wanted a normal blue, like I'd ordered. How hard is it to have a blue car?
And it was a little bit like the reverse of the old Henry Ford line of you can
have it any color you want, as long as it's black. But for me it was, I could have it in any color I wanted as long as it wasn't blue.
At this point, I'm in the official VW queue and they've long ago locked in my $100 non-refundable deposit and that money is not coming back.
Jaded By Harsh Reality
SFES
I ordered this car two and a half years ago and I still have no car. The fates seem to be plotting against me. The optimist man who thought an EV would be in his garage soon has been replaced by a cynic. I'm pulling the plug on my ID.4 dream.
I called the dealership and said, "I'm done, you guys. I don't feel like you want my business bad enough. You're not giving me any options. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect delivery in less than 2 years." I know the dealership is only able to offer what VW makes, so my real issue is with VW corporate, not my local dealership; but in the end what matters is whether can I get what I ordered, and in this case, the answer was 'no.'
I mean, how hard is it to use a different interior with the blue exterior. The fact that they were inflexible in this regard made me worried for them as a brand.
I officially canceled my reservation.
Dad For The Win
SFES
I'll call up my dad ready to eat crow and I say, "OK, I'm going back to square one. You're probably gonna win."
He says, "I'm totally gonna win. My car is scheduled to be manufactured this month (August) with delivery in September."
So my dad actually picked his car up last week (early September), so he's got the EQE now and he's starting to learn how to drive it.
He very much so won. He has his car right now, and I don't even have one ordered.
My dad is 79 years old. So you're never too old to get an EV. I never expected this. He's been a total gearhead for his entire life. He enjoys turning a wrench and he has rebuilt and customized multiple cars over his lifetime. I honestly didn't think I'd ever see him in an EV because he has gasoline in
his blood. It's just easy for him to see EVs are the path
forward. They're the way to keep us independent from oil.
There's been a little bit of a learning curve for him. At 79 things are a little bit harder, but he says the most surprising
thing so far has been it goes from zero to "oh, God, how fast am I going?" way too fast for his 79-year-old reaction times. But new cars like his also have all of these new modern safety features like collision avoidance, lane keeping, self-park, and other features. It will be really, really exciting to see how these features mature.
Good for him, at least one of us got an electric car.
Single & Searching
SFES
I'm back to single but searching and I'd put my car status as "complicated." There are still lots of opportunities and there are more and more brands building more and more options, which is exciting. The supply chain issues seem to be mostly resolved, so there's hope.
But I've had some job variability recently and that made me wanna sit on the sideline financially for a
little bit. I want to avoid any large purchases right now. My big problem with EVs
right now is that the ones with a practical size and range for my needs are fifty to sixty grand, which is quite
a bit of an investment. This is slowly changing, but not as fast as I'd like.
New models are coming out, existing models are getting updated, and I'm back in the market. I'm really hoping I won't be featured
on your blog again as that guy who failed at buying an EV part 2.
It Just Hangs There Mocking Me
SFES
One of the annoying parts for me is when they said "Your car will be here soon," I had a residential hard-wired Level 2 charging connector installed in my garage. It's been installed since February and it has had *zero* car charging sessions.
It's kind of an
albatross on my wall saying you spent a lot of money (for nothing - so far). I had to wire
her off a separate circuit and do a whole bunch of other stuff to make it work, so it was a pretty penny. I'd like to
think it's more Volkswagen's failure than mine, but there's a certain level
of spiritual depantsing every time I look at it; oh damn it, why
do I not have my electric car.
The good news was I was able to
advise my dad when he got his charging connector. And this is maybe a little
bit of a heads-up for some of your readers, Dad lives in a house that was
built in 1976. It's electrical panel is actually classified as a fire
hazard and if anybody with an electrical license interacts with it they have
to flag it and tell the state and you have to get it updated. So he called the electrician that installed mine, when they showed up to do the consult they're
like whoa boyyo this is gonna cost you. They have to completely
replace the panel, they have to completely replace the electrical runs to the meter and the meter as
well. They were all out of spec. That's a lot of rewiring, which was an expense that he hadn't expected when pricing the car. The upgrades involve a
lot of permitting and working with the local utility for the meters. The county and utilities are not always as timely as you'd like them to be.
CWC
It sounds like he's getting rid of a potential fire hazard, which is a good thing.
SFES
Yeah, it was pretty funny because my dad is an electrical and mechanical engineer. He said, "If I'd known that was that much of a problem, I'd have done something about it sooner."
I told him, "You know, I known someplace with a brand new charger that's never been used. If you let me borrow the car for a day or 2, I'll bring it back with a full charge." This little joke reminded me of my high school days, "Dad, can I borrow the car?"
With Dad replying, "Sure, but you know the rule, bring it home with a full tank." But seriously, he doesn't live far from me and he is welcome to stop by anytime and charge up if he needs it. It would make me feel like I've actually done good with my investment.
Ironically, I installed my charging connector too soon. My dad didn't start the process until after he picked up his car and it's going to be at least 3 months before he has his service upgraded and can level 2 charging in his garage. Until then he can trickle charge on level 1, charge at my place, and use the local DC fast chargers. So he has options.
So a word to the wise, if you have an older house, maybe the first step that you do is an inspection and estimate for a Level 2 connector installation in your garage because
that might end up being the long pole.
I'm Not Giving Up
CWC
So what are your EV plans now?
SFES
Yeah, I think I'll rerun the same plan from 2021 again. The Portland Auto Show is coming in a few months. I'll head there and kick all the tires and sit in the seats and everything; go on any EV ride and drive events. There's only so much you can learn about a car online. For me, I have to see it, touch it, and sit in it to really know if it's the right car for me.
And I've been considering opening up my strike zone a little
bit. The Bolt EV is a really cute car. I had dismissed it in the past because I blamed GM for killing Saturn, but as I said, there are no perfect choices. So this one may be in the running. I like that it's smaller. They've had some issues though, uh, like where they said, you know, don't park
it inside. I'm going to make sure all of those issues have been resolved.
I like the Nissan Ariya too. The outside is kind of sleek and elegant. The inside has some really kind of weird quirks, so I'm hoping that the
next model year will maybe straighten out a couple of those.
The Subaru I only got to see from the outside of the car show I had a Subaru
previously. Maybe I'll actually get to sit in one this time. The cockpit layout that they had in the diagram
at the car show seemed like they were going the Star Trek route, so I'll have to try it out.
I was looking at the Audi Electric SUV and that was I was really
close to pulling the trigger on that one. It's a nice car. It ticked all the boxes. It wasn't a Star Trek car. It was a little bit heavier than I wanted and it was a lot more
expensive than I wanted, but I was Jonesing for an EV so bad I was willing to
be a little bit stupid. But then when I got that little bit of variability in my life, I was like,
nope, nope. This is not the time to financially stretch. No room for stupid right now. I'll put them all back in the hopper again and just kind
of walk around the car show and see what I can get.
I don't think I'll have much of an ability to be patient this time. A few months is okay, but if they want to put me on a list for a year plus again, I might have to choke
somebody out.
CWC
Whoa, I see the ID.4 experience has left a bad taste in your mouth.
SFES
You know, I see ID.4s around all the time and I'm like
ohh that could have been mine. I still like the look, I
still like the shape. When I see a blue one I'm like hmm, what's the punishment for Grand Theft Auto these days? LOL.
EV sales are increasing, every year there are more models. There will be a lot of opportunities for me to become an EV owner. It'll be exciting to watch this transition unfold. I'm not going to wait for the next battery technology breakthrough. I'm in the market now. You see headlines every week about solid-state batteries or aluminum batteries or some
other thing that's coming down the Pike like a thousand-mile battery. I've been promised jetpacks long enough that I'm you know I'm not gonna hold my breath. I've worked in technology for a long time and I know that it's a lot easier to write press releases than it is to make products in high volume. Being able to make one cell in a lab is far from being able to mass produce something with 5-nines of yield. I definitely don't want perfect to be the enemy of
progress here, so I'll get something in my garage and on that charger before the end of 2024. Maybe it'll be something that you haven't had a road test on and
I can let you kick the tires on it and write up a happy ending as the next part in this saga.
CWC
Yeah, that'd be fun.
NACkered
CWC
A lot of EV manufacturers have announced that they're going to be switching
from the J1772 port to the North American Charge Standard (NACS) port in 2025. Are you worried that you'll be buying in a 'lame duck' year?
SFES
Much like waiting for battery advancements, I don't think it's right to wait for things like this either. There will be adapters, NACS to J1772, NACS to CCS. There are too many CCS/J1772 cars on the road today for support to disappear. There might even be a conversion kit to swap the actual port at some time.
You've got to have some sort of backward compatibility and a migration strategy that doesn't alienate your earliest and most fervent supporters. I work professionally on a technology that is still going strong 40 years on. The original packets still work with today's networks even though the speeds are orders of magnitude faster. Hopefully, they've got that same kind of attitude to have a smart strategy that
makes it easy to convert. If this a Betamax versus VHS
challenge, uh, you know, they're gonna alienate a lot of people.
CWC
I think you have the right attitude there. The perfect shouldn't be the enemy of the good. Automakers have to have a plan to not abandon people
in some legacy technology. There will certainly be adapters and I like your idea of conversion kits for an easy upgrade path.
CWC
Well, so when you actually do go to the car show, we'll have to do this again.
SFES
Yeah. You should come with me! It was fun the year we went with a couple of our other buds.
CWC
Yes, that was a fun time.
SFES
You can live-blog of the Portland Auto Show. Come on readers, leave a comment telling Pat he should go!
I bring a notebook and take notes on each car I check out, because, as Adam Savage says, "Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." You can use my notes as field research.
The notes really help me compare after the fact. I think I get better results this way than real-time and memory.
I really like having all the cars under one roof. I don't have to go from dealership to dealership. The Auto Show is a bit of a long day, but it saves a lot of time overall. I'll wear a mask, socially distance where I can, bring hand sanitizer etc. It's a public event, COVID and other nasties are still out there.
SFES
With the Nissan Ariya that I looked at it online. I didn't really like it, but I know seeing it personally can be a very different experience than a photo can convey. Then when I finally did see one IRL, it was a much nicer car than the photos convied. You just don't get
a good sense of scale with photographs. And no photo can tell you how putting your actual cheeks in the
seat will feel. Only sitting there can tell you whether or not it's wide enough or not for your caboose.
CWC
Exactly, butts in seats is a tried and true method.
Speaking of butts in seats, I do want to put in a plug for National Drive Electric Week. There are events all around the world. You can find one near you by checking driveelectricweek.org
The Oregon Electric Vehicle Association is hosting on October 8th with a ride & drive and a lot of different EVs to try out. You can talk to actual owners rather than sales guys (although some of them may be there too):
OEVA’s NDEW Event Ride & Drive Info Expo
October 8th, 10am-4pm
4330 S Macadam Ave, Portland, OR (Tesla Sales & Service Center)
w/ generous support from Portland General Electric (PGE)
Many local dealers to provide EV ride & drives, 26 different vehicles, 13 Brands
There are a lot of events coming up in late September and early October. So you might be able cheek out some cars and it would be even cheaper than the car
show and sooner.
SFES
That's a great idea.
It's important to have a community because when you're
switching from horse-drawn buggies to motor-powered, it's nice to have somebody
who's kind of been on the journey and can talk you through some of the things. I've learned quite a bit from you and your blog on my journey. Switching technologies like this, what charger to
get and some other things, having somebody who's been there, done
that, it definitely makes it a lot easier to make the move with
confidence.
CWC
That sounds like a nice wrap-up point. Any final words you want to add?
SFES
San Dimas High School Football Rules!
Just kidding.
CWC
Ha ha.
Thanks a lot for your time and I will definitely swing by and try your
charge connector so it doesn't get lonely.
SFES
Next, next time you're playing pickleball and your battery is low, just text me and swing by. Free juice for you and your car.
CWC
Thanks!
